204 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



November 



\ 



problem of matter and force. 



"Maeterlinck attempts no more to ex- 

 plain the inconsistencies in the economy 

 of the bees than he does those in their 

 ethics. He acknowledges that the bees 

 exemplify in some of their instincts and 

 customs the heedless prodigality of na- 

 ture, striving sometimes to repair faults 

 or shortcomings by unsuitable excess 

 that becomes almost a mockery; some- 

 times ruthlessly destroying, without any 

 new-found reason, what before was 

 cherished most carefully. The 'spirit 

 of the hive,' an unknown supreme power, 

 disposes of the destinies of the buzzing 

 nation. It fixes the moment for the sud- 

 den slaughter of the drones; for the jeal- 

 ous massacre of the heiresses-presump- 

 tive to the queenship; for the timely or 

 untimely swarming. Maeterlinck seems 

 to suppose something very like a lan- 

 guage among the apida\ whereby the 

 will of the overwhelming majority is 

 quickly and effectively made known to 

 all; by which organization for division 

 of duties is maintained. It may, how- 

 ever, as he says, be more akin to an 

 electric influence, possibly, one might 

 add, like the spreading of an idea or a 

 concept through all the ganglia of the 

 active human brain at once. It might 

 be supposed, though Maeterlinck does 

 not express this theory, that all the cere- 

 bral matter in all the bees in the hive 

 constitutes a collective brain, a mental 

 apparatus, with so delicate an inter- 

 sensitiveness among the composing mem- 

 bers that it acts with prompt singleness 

 of impulse, almost as if it were a perma- 

 nent unit. The power that enables the 

 bee through long distances to wing her 

 way back to the hive in a perfectly 

 straight line, even though she may have 

 been kept a prisoner while important 

 landmarks were being altered, is so won- 

 derful that no adequate explanation of it 

 can be given, even at this day. without 

 supposing an occult cerebral sympathy, 

 which iu itself again cannot be explained 

 until science shall have made a yet 

 greater advance than in the past.'" 



NEW IDEAS IN HIVES. 



BV \V. T. STEPHENSON'. 



NOT long since an article by L. E. 

 Kerr appeared in the Agricultural 

 EpiUjmist entitled, " A New Idea 

 in Hives."' Of course, new ideas must 

 be advanced if any progress is to be 

 mad<^ ; but they must be progressive 



ideas. 



Mr. Kerr says there are three styles of 

 hives in general use. He has left out a 

 very popular comb honey hive — the 

 Dauzenbaker. He also says the Lang- 

 stroth hive and system is faulty. Will 

 he kindly explain in what way ? If the 

 Heddon is so far superior to the Lang- 

 stroth, why don't it supersede the Lang- 

 stroth? The only fault I can see is in the 

 frames (I mean the old style). They 

 have to be handled singly; but with the 

 Hoffman this objection is easily obviat- 

 ed, inasmuch as they can be handled in 

 pairs, trios or quadruples. 



The "new idea'' is in dispensing with 

 frames and using instead immovable 

 bars to which the combs are built. This is 

 slightly better than the box-hive, the 

 only difference is that a section super 

 can be used. I forgot to say that it was 

 to be a divisible brood-chamber, like the 

 Heddon. Mr. Kerr claims that after 

 years of careful study he sees no use in 

 lifting the frames out of the hives. He 

 quotes Mr. Heddon as saying his best colo- 

 nies had not had the frames taken out of 

 the hive for five years. While Mr. Hed- 

 don has had a great deal more experi- 

 ence than myself, I can assert, with an 

 assurance of good company, that that is 

 a poor policy: nothing practical about it. 

 I overhaul my colonies once or twice 

 each season, and I profit by it, as I ac- 

 quaint myself with the Internal condi- 

 tion of the hives. I consider such "new 

 ideas'' extremely retrogressive and detri- 

 mental to our pursuit. W^ith the "New 

 Idea" hive no frames could be spread to 

 encourage brood-rearing; it would be 

 impossible to cut out queen-cells or to 

 clip queens' wings. It is evident that 

 Mr. Kerr never had any experience with 

 foul-brood, else he would want a frame 

 hive. Foul-brood works so silently that 

 it is difficult, if not impossible, to detect 

 its presence, when in the incipient stage. 

 from the outside. 



This is a piogressive age, and bee- 

 keeping not one whit behind other in- 

 dustries in having up-to-date tools and 



